an image, when javascript is unavailable

Kevin Costner Unveils ‘Horizon’ Trailer and Explains Why Making the Western Epic Was His ‘Biggest Struggle’ Yet

By Angelique Jackson

Angelique Jackson

  • Cameron Diaz in Talks to Join Keanu Reeves in Jonah Hill-Directed Dark Comedy ‘Outcome’ 11 hours ago
  • Queen Latifah Returns to Host NAACP Image Awards, Amanda Gorman and June Ambrose to Receive Special Honors 11 hours ago
  • Taraji P. Henson Urges Black Creatives to ‘Keep Telling Your Truth, Because It’s All We Have’ 17 hours ago

Kevin Costner Horizon: An American Saga

When Kevin Costner revealed the trailer for “ Horizon: An American Saga ,” the first of his planned four-part epic about the American West, the two-time Academy Award winner looked positively giddy — at least over Zoom.

“Trailers have always been kind of a favorite part for me, even as a boy going to the movies,” Costner said, grinning as he unveiled the first footage in a virtual conversation with journalists. “You’re obviously there to see the movie you want, but isn’t it kind of cool when you see what’s coming? … And with that in mind, I did my very best to expose what’s going to be a four-part saga.”

“Can they, in a sense, feel themselves in this movie? Because that’s what I want people to feel in the dark, that [it] suddenly just absorbs them,” Costner teased. “We all know what happens when the lights go out — either something good, something average or something great. What I hope is that this is something that stays with them forever.”

The three minute trailer introduces “Horizon’s” ensemble cast — led by Costner’s Hayes Elllison, who rides into the frame with the stunning landscapes of Utah on full display — and tees up the action as the film explores the triumphs and tragedies brought on by the ideology of Manifest Destiny. The clip shares a first look at his co-stars Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Fahey, Will Patton, Tantanka Means, Owen Crow Shoe, Ella Hunt and Jamie Campbell Bower.

Much of the footage simply teases, rather than directly explains the film’s plot, offering glimpses of the Native American populations that will be featured in the film and possibly a romantic storyline between Costner’s Ellison and Lee’s character.

“Use that much this year?” Bower’s character asks Costner near the end of the clip, as he uses his shotgun to reveal Costner’s holstered pistol.

“Haven’t had much need of it yet,” he replies, as the clip cuts to a scene in which Costner displays his quick draw skills.

“Looks like we’ve got ourselves a bad man right here,” Bower declares, chuckling as Costner walks away.

The official description explains that the film “explores the lure of the Old West and how it was won — and lost — through the blood, sweat and tears of many. Spanning the four years of the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, Costner’s ambitious cinematic adventure will take audiences on an emotional journey across a country at war with itself, experienced through the lens of families, friends and foes all attempting to discover what it truly means to be the United States of America.”

In addition to starring in the film, Costner directed from a script he co-wrote with Jon Baird. “Horizon: An American Saga” is Costner’s fourth directorial effort following 2003’s “Open Range,” 1997’s “The Post Man” and 1990’s Oscar best picture-winning “Dances With Wolves.”

“This is by far the biggest struggle,” Costner declared, when asked if ‘Horizon’ or ‘Dances with Wolves’ was more difficult to make. “I’m shocked at what we were able to get. I shot ‘Dances’ for 106 days, I shot the movie you’re just seeing right now in 52. … I did learn a lot and I was able to use every trick in the book to try to bring this movie to ground and to bring it to an audience. And there’s four of them!”

In the conversation, moderated by Deadline’s Mike Fleming, Costner also detailed the origins of the project and explained why he held onto this idea for more than 30 years.

“It’s hard to fall out of love. I don’t do that,” Costner said. “Things that have a classic feel they don’t fall out of touch either. I think they exist in any decade. That’s the opportunity we have in cinema is to make something that lasts past its opening weekend. I’ve never banked on opening weekends; I banked on people wanting to revisit something.”

With “Horizon” specifically, Costner wasn’t deterred when no one wanted to finance the movie; in fact, that gave him the “bright idea to make four,” he quipped, adding that, “There’s a lot of people out there that know I’m a little bit of a hard-head or something.”

In terms of the film’s tone, he wanted to step away from the well-worn Western tropes.

Because he was so passionate about this story, Costner said he eventually realized that he had to make it which mean looking to himself financially to do it.

“Not the smartest thing,” he admitted, alluding to the personal cost of risking his 10-acre Santa Barbara home to fund the movie series. “But I count on people. I count on the movie speaking louder than anything I can say. And so with that in mind, I just shoved West myself and I just left, and I went out to make this movie in Utah.

Costner then explained why he shot the film in the Beehive State. “When you go through Utah, it’s magic. And it wasn’t easy for us to do. There were certain things that weren’t set up that we see in other states. … But I kind of bypassed the smart business decision to go where my money could stretch farther.” Costner noted that the production spent over $100 million in Utah and employed more than 500 people over the course of the shoot. “We had an impact on the state, but the state had an impact on me.”

He also revealed that the movie was originally titled “Sidewinder,” but because he’d had a few movies that inspired copycats, like Robin Hood and Wyatt Earp, he wanted to throw the industry off his scent.

“I just thought, ‘I don’t want anybody stepping into whatever I’m trying to do,’ so I called it ‘Horizon’ and said it was written by my son just to disguise it when it went to the Writers Guild,” Costner said. “But the longer I started to think about it, the more I began to appreciate that dreams, going West, they’re always about ‘Out there.’ When you realize a country is bigger and farther than anyone ever dreamed, it is about the horizon.”

He explained: “Because everybody is looking for something — even today, in the relationships and what’s going on at work. They’re looking for room; they’re looking for fresh air. And our 200 year march across this country was no different.”

Costner also acknowledged the injustices that the film saga will explore, particularly as it explores the Civil War era, which he describes as “a mark on our country, however you choose to look at it — the loss of life, the reason it was fought, the things that we still haven’t solved, we’re still trying to come to terms with as a nation — but it closed the West in a blink of an eye.”

The war had kept the country’s on the east coast, but the minute it ended in 1865, everyone looked west again. “In 25 years, something that had been there for thousands of years, it was over. Our national appetite was to be satisfied at the at the disadvantage to those who had been there and flourished and were living in their own way,” Costner said, referring to the Indigenous populations who were crushed by the movement.

With so much experience in the western or cowboy genre in projects like “Dances With Wolves,” “Open Range,” and most recently as the star of “Yellowstone,” Costner cautioned that he’s not trying to reinvent the wheel with “Horizon.”

“You try not to separate yourself from the rest of the reindeer in terms of [saying] ‘I’m going to be different,’ because I’m not looking to set the record straight or make a history lesson,” he said of the film. “There’s just a way I look at movies: I’m gonna get to the action; I’m gonna get to my gunfight, but I’m gonna get there in maybe a different way. … The West is a real place with real issues.”

At the end of the day, Costner hopes to achieve a couple goals. “I want my little girl to see what her great, great, great-grandmother went through,” he said of his personal investment in the story. But on a broader scale, he hopes the ride is worth moviegoers’ money.

“The oldest profession is telling stories around a fire. We all want to hear a good one and we don’t want somebody to waste our time. And I take my time, I hope I don’t waste your time,” Costner said. “I made four of these. I’d like for us to all take those journeys and try to have a high understanding of this first one. The second one’s already shot. I’m out there, heading west again, pushing a rock uphill trying to make the third one. I know I’m a little bit kind of a joke, or it’s maybe humorous to even watch me, because it’s like, ‘Whoa, I wonder when he’s going to ever stop digging.’ I don’t know.”

At this point, the movie isn’t even his anymore. “Horizons” will now travel the world, as will the questions he’s been dreaming about for decades. Like, if he’d made that trek in the 1800s, would he have made it? He might not know the answer to that question, but he’s feeling pretty accomplished anyway.

“I’m terribly satisfied in my own life that God allowed me to get these first two done,” Costner said, quipping, “I mean, if I’m hit by lightning, who knows what happens? At least I went West.”

More From Our Brands

Trump is already cruising to a super tuesday blowout, brugal just dropped a tasty new rum aged in toasted sherry casks, dartmouth basketball team votes to unionize in college sports first, the best mattress protectors, according to sleep experts, jodie-centric daria spinoff starring tracee ellis ross not moving forward, verify it's you, please log in.

Quantcast

  • Cast & crew

Journey to the West

Based on the beloved classic 16th century Chinese novels, Journey to the West tells the story of Monkey, a most unlikely hero on a most extraordinary journey; where adventure lurks beyond ev... Read all Based on the beloved classic 16th century Chinese novels, Journey to the West tells the story of Monkey, a most unlikely hero on a most extraordinary journey; where adventure lurks beyond every turn. Based on the beloved classic 16th century Chinese novels, Journey to the West tells the story of Monkey, a most unlikely hero on a most extraordinary journey; where adventure lurks beyond every turn.

  • Jianping Li

More like this

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

User reviews

  • See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

Related news, contribute to this page.

  • IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data
  • Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Production art

Recently viewed

journey to the west 1990

We will keep fighting for all libraries - stand with us!

Internet Archive Audio

journey to the west 1990

  • This Just In
  • Grateful Dead
  • Old Time Radio
  • 78 RPMs and Cylinder Recordings
  • Audio Books & Poetry
  • Computers, Technology and Science
  • Music, Arts & Culture
  • News & Public Affairs
  • Spirituality & Religion
  • Radio News Archive

journey to the west 1990

  • Flickr Commons
  • Occupy Wall Street Flickr
  • NASA Images
  • Solar System Collection
  • Ames Research Center

journey to the west 1990

  • All Software
  • Old School Emulation
  • MS-DOS Games
  • Historical Software
  • Classic PC Games
  • Software Library
  • Kodi Archive and Support File
  • Vintage Software
  • CD-ROM Software
  • CD-ROM Software Library
  • Software Sites
  • Tucows Software Library
  • Shareware CD-ROMs
  • Software Capsules Compilation
  • CD-ROM Images
  • ZX Spectrum
  • DOOM Level CD

journey to the west 1990

  • Smithsonian Libraries
  • FEDLINK (US)
  • Lincoln Collection
  • American Libraries
  • Canadian Libraries
  • Universal Library
  • Project Gutenberg
  • Children's Library
  • Biodiversity Heritage Library
  • Books by Language
  • Additional Collections

journey to the west 1990

  • Prelinger Archives
  • Democracy Now!
  • Occupy Wall Street
  • TV NSA Clip Library
  • Animation & Cartoons
  • Arts & Music
  • Computers & Technology
  • Cultural & Academic Films
  • Ephemeral Films
  • Sports Videos
  • Videogame Videos
  • Youth Media

Search the history of over 866 billion web pages on the Internet.

Mobile Apps

  • Wayback Machine (iOS)
  • Wayback Machine (Android)

Browser Extensions

Archive-it subscription.

  • Explore the Collections
  • Build Collections

Save Page Now

Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future.

Please enter a valid web address

  • Donate Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape

Journey to the West (TVB) Collection 06

Video item preview, share or embed this item, flag this item for.

  • Graphic Violence
  • Explicit Sexual Content
  • Hate Speech
  • Misinformation/Disinformation
  • Marketing/Phishing/Advertising
  • Misleading/Inaccurate/Missing Metadata

plus-circle Add Review comment Reviews

Download options, in collections.

Uploaded by Legitass22 on March 23, 2022

SIMILAR ITEMS (based on metadata)

Journey to the West (1996 TV Series)

  • View history

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West_(1996_TV_series)

Starring Dicky Cheung, Kwong Wah, Wayne Lai and Evergreen Mak

TVB version

  • 1 Sun Wukong
  • 2 Tang Sanzang
  • 3 Fantasy Westward Journey

IMAGES

  1. Movie #18: Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

    journey to the west 1990

  2. Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons

    journey to the west 1990

  3. Recensione Journey to the West

    journey to the west 1990

  4. Journey to the West

    journey to the west 1990

  5. Kaiserliche Agitation Beere the west movie Beachten Aussicht Flüstern

    journey to the west 1990

  6. ‘Journey to the West’ Passes $160 Million at China Box Office

    journey to the west 1990

VIDEO

  1. journey to the west/movieexplanation#shorts

  2. journey to the west 😱/movieexplanation#shorts #ytshortsvideo

  3. The Journey to the West

  4. Journey To The West 1986 စွန်းဝူခုန်း Ep6

  5. Journey to the West 2010 06 Eng Sub

  6. The Journey West County Live Stream

COMMENTS

  1. Journey to the West (1986 TV series)

    1 October 1986. ( 1986-10-01) Journey to the West is a Chinese television series adapted from the classic 16th-century novel of the same title. The first 11 episodes of the series were first broadcast on CCTV in China on 1 October 1986. The series became an instant classic in China and was praised for being one of the most original and faithful ...

  2. Journey to the West (1996)

    White Bone Demon. Support Role. Rebecca Chan. Princess Iron Fan. Support Role. Michelle Fung. [Jade Faced Vixen / Princess Consort of Xinglin] Support Role. Cheung Ying Choi.

  3. Journey to the West (1996 TV series)

    Journey to the West is a Hong Kong television series adapted from the 16th-century novel of the same title.Starring Dicky Cheung, Kwong Wah, Wayne Lai and Evergreen Mak, the series was produced by TVB and was first broadcast on TVB Jade in Hong Kong in November 1996. A sequel, Journey to the West II, was broadcast in 1998, but the role of the Monkey King was played by Benny Chan instead, due ...

  4. List of media adaptations of Journey to the West

    The Journey West is a series of illustrated ebooks available for the Kindle and Nook that retell Journey to the West using rhyming verses vaguely reminiscent of Dr. Seuss. ... It was followed by a 1990 sequel, Saiyūki World 2: Tenjōkai no Majin, adapted and ...

  5. Journey to the West (TVB) Collection 01

    Sun Wukong the Monkey King, monk Tang Sanzang, humanoid pig Zhu Bajie and river demon Sha Wujing embark on a perilous journey to retrieve holy scriptures from the west, as an act of redemption for their past sins. On the way, they encounter a host of spirits, monsters and demons who threaten their lives and their unity.

  6. Journey to the West (1996)

    Journey to the West. (1996) There is a fairy stone on Huaguo Mountain which suddenly exploded one day, and a spirit monkey burst out. He studied under the Bodhi Patriarch and was named Sun Wu Kong. Wu Kong is agile and intelligent, and he successfully practised the art of immortality and the seventy-two changes, but he got into a catastrophe ...

  7. Journey To The West 1996 Playlist

    Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

  8. Journey to the West (TV Series 1996- )

    Sandy (1996) unknown episodes. Rain Lau. ... Spider Spirit Yan Yan unknown episodes. Li Po Lung. ... Hong Long Meng (1996-1997) unknown episodes.

  9. Journey to the West (TV Series 1996- )

    Journey to the West (TV Series 1996- ) - Movies, TV, Celebs, and more...

  10. Journey to the West

    Journey to the West, foremost Chinese comic novel, written by Wu Cheng'en, a novelist and poet of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The novel is based on the actual 7th-century pilgrimage of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang (602-664) to India in search of sacred texts. The story itself was already a part of Chinese folk and literary tradition in the form of colloquial stories, a poetic novelette ...

  11. Journey to the West 2 (TV Series 1998)

    Journey to the West 2: With Benny Chan, Wah Kong, Yiu-Cheung Lai, Cheung-Ching Mak. The Monkey King conquers the fantasy world of monsters and demons with his brotherhood team, led by his Master Tang Sanzang.

  12. Journey to the West

    Journey to the West - Classic Novel in Four Volumes - First Edition by n/a. Publication date 1990-01-01 Publisher Foreign Languages Press Collection inlibrary; printdisabled; internetarchivebooks Contributor Internet Archive Language English Volume 1. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate

  13. List of Journey to the West characters

    Antagonists Demon King of Confusion. The Demon King of Confusion (混世魔王) is a demon king who seizes control of the Water Curtain Cave (水簾洞) when Sun Wukong left to learn magic from Subhuti.He chases away the primates and occupies the cave with his minions. Many years later, Sun Wukong returns, defeats the demon king and takes back the cave.

  14. Journey to the West: v. 2 Hardcover

    This item: Journey to the West: v. 2. CHENG'EN WU. 4.6 out of 5 stars. 389. Hardcover. 9 offers from $9.20. Three Kingdoms (Chinese Classics, 4 Volumes) Luo Guanzhong.

  15. PDF Reading the Journey to the West

    ©Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 41 (2019) Reading the Journey to the West: How Fiction Became a Sacred Scripture WANG Xuan University of Georgia From 1592 to 1892, when its last commented edition was published, the Journey to the West was often interpreted as an allegory that elucidates the Mencian principle of "retrieving the lost mind," a Daoist manual that teaches ways ...

  16. Journey To The West

    Journey To The West - Season 2 (1998) (TVB) Video Item Preview play8?>> remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. Share to Twitter. Share to Facebook. Share to Reddit. Share to Tumblr. Share to Pinterest. Share to Popcorn Maker. Share via email. EMBED. EMBED (for wordpress ...

  17. Journey to the West 1996

    Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

  18. 'Horizon' Trailer Kevin Costner Unveils American Western Movie

    Kevin Costner revealed the trailer for 'Horizon: An American Saga,' the first of his four-part epic about the American West, in theaters this June. × Plus Icon Click to expand the Mega Menu

  19. Journey to the West

    Journey to the West (Chinese: Xiyou ji 西遊記) is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en.It is regarded as one of the greatest Classic Chinese Novels, and has been described as arguably the most popular literary work in East Asia. Arthur Waley's 1942 abridged translation, Monkey, is known in English-speaking countries.

  20. Journey to the West (1997)

    Journey to the West: Directed by Jianping Li. Based on the beloved classic 16th century Chinese novels, Journey to the West tells the story of Monkey, a most unlikely hero on a most extraordinary journey; where adventure lurks beyond every turn.

  21. Journey to the West

    Journey to the West. In a world plagued by demons who cause great human suffering, young demon hunter Xuan Zang risks his all to conquer a water demon, a pig demon and the demon of all demons, Sun Wukong. IMDb 6.7 1 h 49 min 2013. X-Ray PG-13. International · Adventure · Campy · Fun.

  22. Journey to the West (TVB) Collection 06

    Journey to the West (TVB) Collection 06 by Television Broadcasts Limited. Publication date 1996 Topics Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy Language Chinese. With English Subs Addeddate 2022-03-23 04:16:40 Identifier journey-to-the-west-tvb-collection-06 Scanner Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.6.4.

  23. Journey to the West (1996 TV Series)

    Fandom Apps Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat.